Uppsala

A quick visit to Uppsala was complimented by a wonderful birthday of my 90 years young great uncle who showed us remarkable hospitality, by accommodating our English only capabilities. Lars-Inge and Birgitta had prepared a wonderful lunch and we dined with cousins, some of whom I'd never met.

The next night, we had a lovely lunch, a brief shopping trip and a wonderful fish dinner by candlelight with my dear grandmother. We had a special surprise for her this time, in which we asked her to reveal the gender of our newest family member. We had asked our doctor in San Francisco to seals he surprise and we were disciplined not to peek. While saving our curiosity for 48 hours resulted in a lovely shared moment with my distant family. Too often, there is a lapse in communication due to my lack of Swedish, and a great distance, but in this moment, our family felt quite intimate again. Mormor was happy to announce we would be expecting a little GIRL!

On Tuesday, we had a bit of work to catch up on, and Jen managed to meet some lovely folks in the Google office in Stockholm. I spent the day managing some projects and we then had a wonderful dinner at villa Anna with Mormor. Villa Anna came highly recommended and is a distinguished Swedish culinary treat, set within a historic hotel. We dined on delicious lamb cheek, braised veal, smoked salmon and a wonderful chocolate mousse. Mormor was delighted and we were still floating on a cloud with the news of our bundle of joy.

On Wednesday, Jen returned to the Stockholm office to network a little and i was able to take advantage of the good weather with a trip to Lars-Inge and Birgitta's summer house just outside of Uppsala. The Swedish summer home is ubiquitous for its simplicity and opportunity to convene with nature. At the summer house, they grew fresh vegetables in their greenhouse and flowers for their city apartment. We were treated to a Swedish "fika" "coffee break" and some summer sausages. I took the chance to get my hands a little dirty with mowing the lawn and trimming the edges with Lars. Then it was time to say goodbye and head to Stockholm to check in with my mamma to be. 

Next up, the Ljungdahl wedding at the Riddarhuset!